Communities of practice: Facebook

"Facebook" by Dave Walker.

July 5th 2007

Online social networking is a phenomenon that has drastically changed the way how people connect and socialize with each other. People interact and connect with each other from and "on" those websites. They provide a foundation in which society reacts to new ideas through the viewpoints and opinions of others; sharing ideas and stories; finding inspiration and information relative to each particular users interests, desires, and ambitions. Social networking websites make it all happen and millions of people are happier because of them.

Source: http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/ retrieved 12-04-2009

Social networks are here to stay. Facebook has 300,000,000 registered users; Classmates has 50,000,000; and MySpace has 263,000,000 (Source:Wikipedia.com 11-27-09). However, there is another trend in social networking: more and more large companies, universities and small businesses are getting their own social websites up and running so they can connect with their employees and students; fans or customers. These smaller social networking websites offer a more personalized experience by tightly focusing on the interests of its members rather than trying to build a brand.

Social networking has made a great impact in Education, too. After all, it's an extraordinary way to be in contact with your students, keep an eye on their performance, share academic as well as extra-curricular contents and activities, increase empathy and motivation and establish a healthy, dynamic relationship teacher-students.

What is a Wiki?

According to its creators, Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.Wiki allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.

For an easy explanation on the functioning of wikis, follow this link to a great video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

And if you want to get started right now, here you have the links for two great sites to do so:

http://www.wikispaces.com/

www.wetpaint.com/

To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others. Anthony Robbins.

"I have nothing to say" by Dave Walker

March 9th 2006

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 tools: Blogs

Web 2.0 websites allow users to do more than just retrieve information. They can build on the interactive facilities of "Web 1.0" to provide "Network as platform" computing, allowing users to run software-applications entirely through a browser.Users can own the data on a Web 2.0 site and exercise control over that data. These sites may have an "Architecture of participation" that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it.

Blogs, or Web logs, are online journals that are updated frequently, sometimes even daily. An update, (also called an entry or a post) is usually quite short, perhaps just a few sentences, and readers can often respond to an entry online. People who write blogs are commonly called bloggers. Bloggers call themselves and their blogs the blogosphere.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/.../writing-a-good-blog.html -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsNcjya56v8

About the ICT in ELT course

The use of Web tools and the development of digital skills are essential for teachers or proffesionals dedicated to the teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language, as means to achieve a more dynamic and effective approach to the teaching practice.
This theoretical-practical course offers a comprehensive vision of the teaching potential of the ICT's in the teaching and learning of English, as well as a valuable opportunity for us teachers to update our knowledge concerning methodologies and cyberspace.

global networks in action